1) Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to devices, methods and systems for aero-contouring surfaces of structures and collecting abrading debris, and more specifically, to devices, methods and systems for aero-contouring surfaces of aerodynamically functional coatings applied to structures of air vehicles, such as aircraft, and collecting abrading debris.
2) Description of Related Art
Air vehicles, such as commercial passenger and cargo aircraft, may have exterior surfaces that are coated or painted with colorful and decorative designs. For example, such exterior surfaces of an air vehicle may include exterior surfaces of the tail, wings, fuselage, nacelles, or other exterior surfaces of the air vehicle. Such colorful and decorative designs may include airline livery designs which are standard paint schemes on aircraft that prominently display an airline's logo, name, or other identifying feature to provide branding and differentiation of the airline. Since airline livery designs may provide not only a decorative function, but also a branding and differentiation function, it is important that livery designs be consistently applied and with acceptable appearance, gloss, and long-term durability.
In addition, maintaining desired air flow characteristics over coated or painted aircraft surfaces, such as airline livery designs, for example, coated or painted on the tail of an aircraft, may be challenging. In order to avoid impact on desired boundary layer characteristics during flight, there are allowable criteria for paint edges and waviness. There may also exist restrictions for three-dimensional surface discontinuities, such as those that may occur from inclusions caused by debris, dust, or dry coating overspray, which may be more stringent than for paint edges or for waviness.
Known devices, systems and methods exist for abrading or sanding coated or painted surfaces in order to smooth and polish the surfaces. However, smoothing and polishing of coating or paint edges of aerodynamically functional coatings, such as decorative livery designs, may require a manual process performed at a very high skill level and may require an extensive amount of time to achieve. A manual process performed by skilled operators may not scale well to the large areas and manufacturing rates required for commercial aircraft livery due to the time and skill required. Moreover, if lesser-skilled operators are used to perform the abrading or sanding, excessive pressure may inadvertently be applied to the surface during abrading or sanding, and/or gouging of the surface may occur if the abrading or sanding device is inadvertently tipped to the side. Further, although sanding with known sanding devices may be performed on coating or paint edges of decorative livery designs, this may not be a viable manufacturing method for exterior decorative livery design coatings or paints where appearance, gloss and long-term durability may be required.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved devices, systems and methods for aero-contouring surfaces of aerodynamically functional coatings or paints of decorative designs, such as airline livery designs, applied to structures, such as structures of air vehicles, that provide advantages over known devices, systems and methods.